Decorating for the holidays is something I’ve never taken too seriously. I like to get into the spirit of it, of course, and I’ll put a few things up around the apartment and on the door to celebrate. Chrismukkah is probably the most elaborate I’ve ever gotten, with a tree and some light strings and some figurines dressing up the shelves. After the spontaneous Halloween blowout I had this year, however, this is likely to change once December hits.
It started simply enough. I put together a few fall festive items: a leafy table runner, some fall-scented and colored candles, a big leafy wreath on the door, pumpkin ceramics for the shelves, and fresh fall-colored flower bouquets. But something happened one week before Halloween. I started seeing the houses with all the cobwebs and the gravestones and the skeletons and, quite frankly, I snapped. I had to do something spooky in our apartment. Down came warm fall festive and little by little I creeped the place out. Here’s what we accomplished before All Hallow’s Eve hit.
The Haunted Hall
We kept this pretty simple and straight-forward. Outside we hung a handmade wreath. Inside, our walls are painted in a two-tone purple stripe, so we decided to take it in a Tim Burton direction. We added some purple lights around the huge mirror, hung a simple, store-bought plastic lantern, swapped out a lovely green entrance-way throw rug with small black rugs, and blocked off the super brightness of our kitchen overheads with backlit Halloween curtains.
The Bloody Bathroom
For the bathroom, we went simple, store-bought gory. Next year we’ll probably take this a little further with a little more creativity, but the effect turned out just fine this year… especially from inside the the tub.
The Spooky Parlor
The real work went into transforming our living room. The funny thing I learned about our apartment is that many of the everyday items that make it seem cozy are the same things that make it seem super-creepy in a Halloween context.
Candles are commonplace in our apartment, but…
Speaking of family photos
And the effect of these simple tricks can be equally… (wait for it)… jarring
More jars
Some simple adjustments:
And here are a few more odds and ends:
All this accomplished in one week! With a whole year to plan for next Halloween and 3 rooms as yet unexplored, the possibilities are (dare I say?) frightening!
Please! I have been looking for bat curtains that aren't cheesy, and nice JUST like these. But I can't find them ANYWHERE. Please, do you recall where you found these? Thank you so much!
Alexas, Sorry for the late reply. I swear I have searched my email thoroughly to see if I can figure out where the receipt is from. I can't find it anywhere. So my best guess is that I think I picked these up in person somewhere, which would mean it was probably Target or Bed Bath and Beyond. If I do find them again, I'll definitely let you know.
2 responses to “Halloween Decorating 2014”
Please! I have been looking for bat curtains that aren't cheesy, and nice JUST like these. But I can't find them ANYWHERE. Please, do you recall where you found these? Thank you so much!
Alexas, Sorry for the late reply. I swear I have searched my email thoroughly to see if I can figure out where the receipt is from. I can't find it anywhere. So my best guess is that I think I picked these up in person somewhere, which would mean it was probably Target or Bed Bath and Beyond. If I do find them again, I'll definitely let you know.